A Palestinian attacker wounded eight Israelis near a Tel Aviv nightclub early Monday, slamming into a police checkpoint with a stolen taxi and then stabbing others, police said.

The attacker was a Palestinian in his twenties from the city of Nablus, according to police spokeswoman Luba Samri.

Just before 2 a.m., the attacker stole a taxi in south Tel Aviv and then drove into a police checkpoint securing the street near a popular nightclub, she said.

He then got out of the car and stabbed passers-by, she said, while shouting "Allahu akbar" - Arabic for "God is great," a phrase often used as a battle-cry by Islamic terrorists.

The wounded included four policemen and three civilians, Samri said.

One of the eight people hurt was listed in a serious condition in hospital and the others suffered light to moderate injuries, Samri said.

The Palestinian told police that he had planned the attack in advance and chose the 'Haoman 17' nightclub, where over 1,000 revelers celebrated the end of the summer vacation. He also bought the knife and carefully planned the taxi attack. Only the police's presence, he claimed, disrupted his plans.

Taxi used in attack (Photo: Moti Kimchi)

The police and Shin Bet continued to question the attacker, who was briefly hospitalized at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon. The security forces are trying to find out if others were involved in the attack.

The initial inquiry showed that the perpetrator spent at least one day in Tel Aviv, where he learned of the teen party scheduled for Sunday night at 'Haoman 17.'

"No caries out a hit-and-run attack at that time of the night," a police source told Tel Aviv.

The police were trying to retrace the terrorist's steps and contact people with whom he was in touch. They also planned to question the attacker over the course of his actions, from the moment he purchased the knife to the moment he used it. In the initial stage of the questioning he claimed that he planned the terror act all on his own.

CTVP went to visit three of the wounded border patrol officers who are in the hospital, some of whom have not yet returned to consciousness. Accompanying Rabbi Menachem Kutner and the group of volunteers was Dudi Sayidof, a Border Policeman who was critically injured 7 years ago and is now BH back on his feet. He came to encourage the families including them in his own rehabilitation process in order to give them hope. (Read more about Dudi here).